The French journalist kidnapped in Mali by a group loyal to Al Qaeda in 2021 has been released

the french journalist Olivier Duboiskidnapped in Mali on April 8, 2021 by a group close to Al Qaeda, was released this Monday, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Dubois is “in good health,” said RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire, who thanked the French authorities for their intervention and specified that the 711-day kidnapping is the longest captivity of a French journalist since the Lebanon war.

The reporter was kidnapped in Gao, in northern Mali, by the Support Group for Islam and Muslimsjihadist formation loyal to Al Qaeda, the same one that held the Colombian nun captive for more than four years Gloria Cecilia Narvaezfinally released in October 2021.

Dubois, correspondent in the region of the newspaper Liberation and the magazine Le Pointwas on his way to interview a jihadist official who had met him in that city when he was ambushed.

“My name is Olivier Dubois and I am French and a journalist. I was kidnapped in Gao on April 8, by the JNIM group.. I am writing to my family, my friends and the French authorities to do everything possible to free me.”indicated the journalist in a 21-second video that was broadcast two years ago and in which he appeared dressed in local Malian clothing from inside a tent.

When the kidnapping took place, the general secretary of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Cristophe Deloire, indicated on his Twitter account that the NGO received notice of the kidnapping two days after the reporter’s disappearance. And they decided then not to announce it publicly so as not to “hinder a possible quick solution” of the case.

Two years later, Olivier Dubois has finally regained his freedom.